Live and Die Like a Man: Gender Dynamics in Urban Egypt

The January 2011 Egyptian revolution brought renewed attention to gender dynamics in the Middle East, sparking ongoing debate about women's public roles, the meaning of manhood, and gender inequality. Farha Ghannam's study shifts focus from traditional gender analysis to examine how men are produced as gendered subjects and how masculinity is maintained and reaffirmed by both men and women across changing socio-economic and political conditions. Based on nearly twenty years of research in al-Zawiya, a low-income neighborhood near Tahrir Square in northern Cairo, Ghannam presents life stories drawn from daily encounters and interviews. She documents the experiences of residents including Hiba and her husband raising their son, Samer searching for a wife, Abu Hosni managing illness, and others reflecting on the uprising and Egypt's changing situation. Ghannam develops the concept of masculine trajectories to explain the various paths men take to embody social norms and realize a male ideal. By centering men's everyday practices and struggles, she challenges dehumanizing stereotypes of Middle Eastern men and opens new perspectives on patriarchal structures and their effects on both men and women.